August 02, 2010

Dey's Market--A dream whose time has come

If you enjoy the funky and urbane atmosphere of Armory Square in downtown Syracuse with all of its independent businesses, great restaurants, and cool apartments, then you can thank Bob Doucette--one of the visionaries beyond this Syracuse gem. Bob didn't just visualize this downtown district, but working with other imaginative leaders, he put his real estate developer money and moxie behind it to make it happen.

Now its time for Bob to make another of his dreams come true--the opening of a full-time market in downtown focused on providing local and sustainably grown produce, meats, fish, cheese and dairy products, baked goods, pasta, coffee and tea, and other food stuffs. There will also be a teaching kitchen. If you've been to Pikes Place market in Seattle or any of the great public markets like Reading Terminal Market in Philly--then you get the idea--just on a smaller scale. Here's how he puts it:

Our goal is provide fresh food
that comes from goods grown or raised within a 100-mile radius whenever
possible. In addition to promoting
sustainable living, an important part of our mission is to increase the growth
of Central New York’s agricultural economy as well. We as a community are extraordinarily fortunate to have
access to have such high quality food grown close by, and so we must support our
local farms by buying their products and opening up new markets to them. As such, we intend to showcase many quality
foods grown or raised locally at the market.

Dey's Fresh Market is poised to be game-changer for downtown Syracuse. There are increasingly good options for obtaining the great local foods of our area but none downtown. Folks who live downtown currently have no place to shop where they can reliably purchase food to make a meal. I live a block west of downtown and have to get in the car to get milk--that's crazy.

Dey's Fresh Market will bring the fantastic vendors of our farmers markets to one location all year long. But to make it happen, Bob is looking for creative and visionary vendors who want to invest in this dream. If you are interested in selling at the market--or know someone who would be a good fit--contact Armory Development and Management for more information and a tenant application. Note, if the products is not food related, it will not be permitted for sale at this market.

This is one of the most exciting developments for downtown that I've seen, and there are some real good ones in the works! But to have a great downtown market... that is a destination. That is what brings people into the heart of Syracuse, like the old days when downtown was where you went to do your important shopping. With Bob Doucette at the helm, you know it's going to be right. Syracuse is so lucky!

This article, like so many we've seen recently in the trade press, is in my view another example of piling-on by journalists looking for material to feed their news machines. Journalists find isolated instances or events from which they extrapolate to conclusions not necessarily accurate.